8 Annual Tap Dance

Tap Dance Extravaganza Held To Celebrate National Dance Week

National Dance Week is celebrated all over the country to increase the awareness and importance of dance as one of the integral arts in American society.

From the beginning of recorded history, dance has served as a meaningful venue for communication and continues to do so in modern day.

Jeanne Peterson, owner and director of Maddox Dance Studio, serves as the delegate in Oregon for National Dance Week. As part of the celebration, the 8th Annual Tap Dance Extravaganza is Saturday, May 1st, 7:00 p.m. at the Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center.

Traditional tap dancers considered themselves “Musicians” creating complex sounds, rhythms to express their mood, the music, and themselves.

Tap was passed from dancer to dancer, and as the late Gregory Hines said “From Friend to Friend.” They shared their knowledge with each other and danced for the pure joy of it!

The Maddox Dancers including the Tapped Out Tappers from Astoria, The Main Street Tappers adult tap group from Warrenton, and guest performers from Hollywood Dance Center in Portland will present tap dances ranging from Vaudeville to Broadway. A special feature will be audience participation for all interested in joining the dancers on stage for a quick tap lesson. Audience members are encouraged to bring tap shoes for this. Andrea Kaul and Sara Strite, faculty members at Maddox Dance Studio, will teach. The finale will be Leonard Reed’s history-making Shin Sham Shimmy from Vaudeville Days!

The Clatsop Community College Arts and Ideas program sponsors this event. The show is open to the public. The Performing Arts Center is located at 16th St. and Franklin St. in Astoria and is ADA Accessible. Admission is $10.00. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Event Information

Date: Saturday, May 1, 2010

Time: 7:00 pm